Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders to Speak at MPP National Conference
Washington, D.C. — Former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders will headline a panel on physician involvement in drug policy reform at the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) / Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) National Conference to be held in Anaheim, California, Nov. 8-10.
Elders is just one of several noted physicians and medical researchers who will speak at the conference. Dr. Donald Abrams of the University of California, San Francisco, principal investigator in a landmark study of medical marijuana use by AIDS patients, will discuss recent and upcoming developments in medical marijuana research. Dr. Ethan Russo, author of the only published study of the patients legally receiving medical marijuana from the federal government, will join University of Southern California psychology professor Mitch Earleywine, author of Understanding Marijuana (Oxford University Press, 2002), to analyze health issues and risks associated with marijuana use.
A particularly provocative discussion of conservative opposition to the War on Drugs will feature Orange County Superior Court Judge Jim Gray, a former federal prosecutor and author of Why Our Drug Laws Have Failed and What We Can Do About It (Temple University Press, 2001).
Other conference participants will include film producer Aaron Russo; singer/actress Michelle Phillips; comedian and television host John Fugelsang; insurance executive Peter Lewis, a major backer of drug policy reform organizations; and some 300 student activists from across the country.
The conference officially kicks off with an evening reception on Thursday, November 7. Additional sessions will look at the government's war on California medical marijuana patients and the growing movement within law enforcement to rethink drug prohibition.
"We purposely scheduled this conference for just after the November elections — elections in which voters will decide on marijuana initiatives in Nevada and Arizona and measures to replace jail with treatment for nonviolent drug offenders in Ohio and Washington, D.C.," said Robert Kampia, MPP's executive director. "This is an historic moment in which growing numbers of Americans are forcing government at all levels to rethink the failed policies of the War on Drugs."
Registration information available here (media registration is free)
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